The corridors of Arathos only got more putrid as Gray lead them down the second windy staircase. He wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but he also thought it was a lot hotter as well. He glanced back at Gajeel. Sweat was beading down his forehead. No, probably not his imagination. Levy had scripted TORCHES for everyone since everything was pitch black once they strayed from the windows on the top floor.

"Juvia," he called as they neared a door at the bottom of the staircase, "You need to be up front with me. Whatever is on the other side of this door, we should be the first ones through."

Juvia nodded, catching up to her lover. The events of yesterday were fresh in both their minds. They already didn't feel like themselves. It didn't help that they didn't look like themselves either. Still, their disguises were their ticket between the worlds. Somehow they had to navigate their way to Andromeda. They had no idea where he would be or what they'd have to go through to get to him.

Gray placed a gnarled hand on the door handle, nodding to Gajeel who immediately backed the other mages up the stairs a bit.

Turning the handle, he took a deep breath, opening the door slowly. It creaked loudly and Gray cringed. If anyone was on the other side, their element of surprise was definitely ruined now.

He peered around the door slowly.

"It's an empty room," he announced, swinging the door wide open.

They all walked into the room. This one was smaller than the banquet room upstairs. It was virtually empty other than the living things crawling all over each other on the ground. It definitely stunk worse too.

"I don't understand," Juvia said in a low voice, "What is the purpose of this room?"

"Maybe we should've kept Horn Head alive as a guide," Gajeel muttered.

"We couldn't take the risk of him alerting anyone," Arcadios denied the thought. Gajeel growled lowly at him.

"There's another staircase," Levy announced from across the room, her torch dimly illuminating the new exit.

"Maybe you should do a reading," Juvia suggested to Cana, "See if you can determine which way the door to hell is."

"Maybe," Cana said slowly. She was reluctant. As much as she wanted to finish the mission and be done with it, she was frightened to do a reading. She didn't want to know if they would all be slaughtered, then Earthland right behind them.

"Do it," Jellal encouraged, a hand on her lower back for encouragement.

Cana swiped some bugs off of the only table in the room and pulled out her cards. She laid them one by one on the table, her face emotionless.

"Well?" Gajeel asked impatiently, "Where is it?"

Cana turned, shooting Gajeel a death glare, "I need to concentrate, you dim-witted shit-for-brains! It's not like the cards will draw a map for me! Shut the hell up! These things take time."

Cana's eyes rolled back into her head as she concentrated. She took long, deep breaths. The entire room was silent with the exception of the crawling critters.

Jellal leaned forward, waving a hand in front of her face, confirming she was not aware of their presence anymore. This is what Cana had meant by getting stronger while she was away with Gildarts. Her skin started to glow with a purple luminescence.

Levy moved closer to Gajeel, threading her fingers into his. He looked down at her, noting her terrified face. Similarly, Gray brought Juvia under his arm while Jellal and Erza stood side by side. Arcadios stood behind Cana, watching her lay out the cards. He didn't know what each picture stood for and Cana's expression did nothing to offer any clues.

"A door," Cana's voice suddenly interrupted their thoughts. Her eyes were still glazed over, "It sits at the bottom of the castle. There are 350 floors to get to the door you seek. Be warned. Not all the floors are vacant."

"Other demons?" Jellal asked, "I thought we killed the House of Aranthos."

"The House is no more. Other demons in the form of monstrosities await you."

"And what's on the other side of the door?" Levy asked.

"Hell's Gate."

"What can you tell us about it? How do we get through it?" Juvia pressed, now fully enveloped in Gray's arms. His slayer arm was lit up again, crawling up his arm.

"Vast amounts of demons await there for orders," Cana replied. Her voice sounded different. They weren't sure what was telling her this information, but it seemed to know a bit, "Get caught. Allow them to take you to the devil himself. That will be the ultimate way."

They glanced at one another. Behind them, the Guards whispered to each other, passing what was going on up the stairs.

"What can we do to prevent causalities amongst us?" Erza asked, "How do we protect ourselves the most effectively?"

"You don't," Cana's voice answered monotonously, "There is no way to predict the outcome. There is no way to prevent the outcome. It's true though that not everyone will make it out alive. That is inevitable. There is but one more piece of advice you should heed: Andromeda has a weakness. Find it."

"What's the weakness?" Gray asked, the tingling in his arm getting more and more severe. It wasn't tickling anymore. It was all out becoming painful.

"That cannot be revealed to you," Cana said, "But you recognize it by the mark of his brother."

"Dammit Cana!" Gajeel slammed a fist down on the table, "This is bullshit! Give us something useful!"

Cana was shaking her head, slowly coming out of her stupor.

"Awwwwoooohh…my head."

Levy bent down beside, stroking her hair softly, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Cana confirmed, "I always get a headache afterwards."

"What the hell was that?" Erza asked, "I have never seen you use magic like that before!"

Cana held her head between her hands, trying to rub the headache out of her temples, "When Dad and I were traveling, I spent some time with a psychic mage on the other side of Fiore. She taught me how to channel Lost Spirits."

"What are Lost Spirits?" Juvia asked.

"They're the spirits of the dead, more or less," Cana answered, "In this case, I channeled a spirit who lived here at one time or another."

"You channeled a demon?" Jellal asked.

"No," Cana denied, "Demons and Lost Spirits are on different planes. Demons of hell are the worst of the worst. People who lived their lives neutrally often get sent to other planes, or dimensions if you will. This spirit I contacted will not have a reason to rat us out, yet will give us the info we need to get somewhere a bit faster than winging it."

"Okay, so do you retain the information it gives you?" Erza asked.

Cana nodded, "350 floors down. And we're expecting company on some of those floors. Guess we better get started."

"349," Gray quipped, "We're on the first level, maybe even the second if you count the last staircase."

"Smartass," Juvia mumbled.

"It's true though that not everyone will make it out alive. That is inevitable."

The ominous statement hung over their heads. Levy scripted more torches, passing them to the Celestial Royal Guards that followed as they passed her into the staircase. Sometimes it was easy forgot they were there, they were so quiet.

The other ominous statement "Get caught" hung in the air too. It was like accepting the death sentence. How would they avoid getting killed long enough to get face-to-face with Andromeda?

Having passed out torches to everyone, Levy tried to smile as she passed by each Guard on her way back up to the front of the line. And so began their descent into hell.